Seaman Dan

Seaman Dan
Seaman Dan
Background information
Birth name	Henry Gibson Dan
Born	(1929-08-25)25 August 1929 Thursday Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia
Died	30 December 2020 (aged 91) Edmonton, Queensland, Australia
Genres	Folk Jazz Hula
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1990s–2016
Labels	Hot Records Steady Steady Music

Henry Gibson Dan AM (25 August 1929 – 30 December 2020), known as Seaman Dan, was a Torres Strait Islander singer-songwriter with a national and international reputation. His first recording, an album called Follow the Sun, was released in 2000, on his 70th birthday.

Seaman Dan was born on 25 August 1929 in the general hospital on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait Islands Region of Far North Queensland, Australia.^[1] His great-grandfather was a sailor from Jamaica in the West Indies, and his great-grandmother a chief's daughter from New Caledonia.^[2] Another grandfather came from the island of Niue in Polynesia.^[1]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2024)

In the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Dan worked as a boat captain and pearl diver, gathering pearl and trochus shells across the north of Australia. He also did jobs such as mineral prospecting and taxi driving.^[1]

Dan's singing came from family, friends and associating with talented musicians in his multi-cultural maritime working life, creating a fusion of music from Australia, Melanesia, North America, Africa and Polynesia, notably the Thursday Island "hula" style. He was a regular performer at Thursday Island's local hotels and a community musician for decades.^{[citation needed]}

His first album, Follow the Sun, was released in 2000, on his 70th birthday.^[3]

He performed in Japan^{[4][better source needed]} and throughout Australia, most notably at the National Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Darwin Festival, Adelaide and Adelaide Fringe Festivals, Laura Dance and Music Festival, Tasmania's 10 Days on the Island Festival, NAIDOC Ball, and at the National Museum of Australia's Tracking Kultja Festival.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Dan semi-retired at the age of 80 years.^[5][6]

His album Perfect Pearl won the ARIA Award for Best World Music Album in 2004, and in 2009 won again with Sailing Home.^[7][8]

In its citation on awarding Dan the Australia Council for the Arts Red Ochre Award in 2005 for his outstanding contribution to the development and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture, the Council claimed he was a charismatic and consummate performer who blended traditional Torres Strait Islander and pearling songs with jazz, hula and blues.^[9]

In 2013, he received a Hall of Fame Award at the National Indigenous Music Awards in Darwin, Northern Territory.^{[citation needed]}

In 2019 Seaman Dan was honoured at the Queensland Music Awards with the Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award.^[10]

Dan died in Edmonton, Queensland on 30 December 2020, aged 91.^[11]

Dan was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours.^[12]

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Seaman Dan won two awards from four nominations.

The Australia Council for the Arts is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a Red Ochre Award. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.

The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA) recognise excellence, dedication, innovation and outstanding contribution to the Northern Territory music industry. They commenced in 2004.

The Queensland Music Awards (previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating Queensland, Australia's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006.^[13]

• Dan, Seaman; Neuenfeldt, Karl (2013). Steady, Steady: The Life and Music of Seaman Dan. Australia: Aboriginal Studies Press.

• Seaman Dan AM, Q150 digital story, Living Queensland, State Library of Queensland
• Seaman Dan discography at Discogs
• Follow the Sun on YouTube (2000, remastered 4 November 2011)